


When The Clock Hits Zero

by itslikegodspilledaperson



Series: Random Fics/ Alternate Universe [4]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 11:05:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4057660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslikegodspilledaperson/pseuds/itslikegodspilledaperson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU.  The Moment Annie Edison is born, a timer in both her and Jeff Winger's head starts counting down until the exact moment when they  meet: August 15, 2009.  They both try to avoid it, but the Universe has other plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jeff Winger? Meet Annie Edison

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is kinda a vague concept. If we're being honest its a reduxed version of one of Getinthejeep's "Meet Cute in the Alternate Universe" series (worth the read!), specifically the Soulmate trilogy. Didn't really focus on specifics, but the concept is that Jeff and Annie have an involuntary mental clock scheduled to count down until mid-2009. It takes both a few years to understand what the timer is for, and both have vague dreams about the other. Both try to avoid the encounter and focus on other things for one reason or another, but sometimes things don't go as planned. 
> 
> Hope this holds you over til tonight!

He first had the dream on a cold December night when he was 17. All he could see was a pair of hauntingly gorgeous blue eyes, a clock, and a soft voice whispering: “17 years, 8 months, 4 days”. As the years went by, the dream became more vivid. Brown hair, porcelain skin, a smile that sent chills down his spine and his heart into the stratosphere. She was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. He didn’t know how he knew this, but he knew she was extremely driven too. Driven, but sad. She’d been through a lot. And it broke his heart. All he wanted was to meet this dream girl, this girl who would be in front of him when the clock in his mind hit zero; August 15, 2009 at 5:00 PM. That was the date. 

All he wanted was for that clock to hit zero. The closer it got, the slower the clock ticked. He thought about it more and more, and as each hardship in his life passed the more cynical he got. His parents divorcing, his dad leaving, constant disappointment... How could all this end when a clock hit zero? Why was he letting his happiness rest on a phantom dream woman and a ticking clock in the back of his head? So he made up his mind then and there, with a year to go until August 15, 2009. He would never meet her. He didn't need her to be happy. He would go out of his way to make sure she never entered his life. He didn’t care that those eyes were in his mind 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Or that sometimes when he went to sleep he could almost feel her next to him. Jeff Winger did not need anyone else but Jeff Winger to be happy. And maybe some scotch. 

So the one night stands began, the expensive vacations all over the globe, and the long nights alone at his Firm where no one, especially no dream woman, could haunt him. But eventually he ran out of places to seek refuge. He couldn’t afford the vacations, he had seemingly slept with every girl in Colorado, and he was booted from the Firm until he could get a college degree. But when one door closes, another door opens. With only a week to go until August 15, he enrolled at the last place you’d find an overachiever like this blue-eyed girl; Greendale Community College, the worst community college in the state of Colorado. 

He woke up early on August 15, getting to school at 8 to scope out the cafeteria and library for a safe place to hide. If the deadline passed, he thought, maybe the dreams would stop. Maybe he’d forget about the blue eyes and the coconut smell of her hair. So he skipped his first class: Spanish 101. Who cared, it was syllabus day anyways. He found an empty study room, and a blonde bimbo with a stupid name walking out of what would have been his Spanish class had he not ditched, and his plan was complete. Hunker down in the room with this girl, and pretend to be a Spanish tutor until his mental clock hit zero. The plan was going well so far, too. He and Britta (yeah, that’s actually her name…) along with some kid Abed had been in there for 2 hours or so and he had done a terrific job pretending to know Spanish. 

Only 15 minutes to go. 

His phone rang. Ian Duncan wanted to meet outside on the football field. He obliged, but kept his head down with headphones in as he worked his way there. The meeting was just as pointless as he thought it would be, and he made his way back to the study room. 

1 minute to go.

The school was relatively empty so he didn’t have to worry about running into anyone. If he saw a pair of feet in front of him, he looked even lower and soldiered on, exerting extreme self-control and never looking up. There it was, the study room. Home sweet home. 

30 seconds

He got closer, almost running to the dreamgirl-free Safe Haven he’d created for himself.

10 seconds. He arrived at the door, opening it and entering with his back to the room as he did a quick scan of the rest of the library to make sure no one else was there before closing the blinds. 

5 seconds. He’d made it. 

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and turned around with his eyes closed as his back hit the now-closed door. He opened his eyes to see in his peripheral vision a table that half an hour ago sat 2 people. Now it was full. But he didn’t’ notice any of them. No, the first thing he saw when opened his eyes was a pair of big blue eyes staring back at him from the spot next to his at the table, just as lost in his gaze as he was in hers. Dammit...

Zero.


	2. Annie Edison, Meet Jeff Winger

She’d felt the ticking since the day she was born, but didn’t know what it meant until she was 6 or 7. In her mind it was a boy, a prince of some sort, that one day would sweep her off her feet just like the Barbie and Ken Dolls she played with. 

She began ignoring the voice when she entered Riverside High, ignoring the "4 years and 4 days to go" countdown ringing through her head. She thought it a delusion; no one as charming and handsome as the man she’d dreamt of would go for an acne-covered, bespectacled, braces-wearing nerd like herself. Might as well put her thoughts into someone more attainable, she thought, like that boy Troy Barnes who sat in front of her for the first three years of high school math. She ignored that inner clock and concentrated solely on the back of his head for 4 years, aching for those fleeting moments where he’d turn around and ask for a pencil, or notes, or the answers to a test. 

Yet outside of the times where he needed something, he never acknowledged her existence. That was her payment for going against fate and predestination. In the end, she told herself, she was no more fit to be with the Prom King and all-conference quarterback than she was to be with the tall and dashing (she wasn’t sure how she knew he was tall or dashing) prince charming from her dreams. And a year before that date, August 15 2009, she submersed herself into schoolwork with a little help from a friend. It was a friend that came in a small orange pill bottle and had to be renewed weekly at the local Walgreens pharmacy, but it was a friend nonetheless; a friend named Adderall. But the drug that had been a savior soon became a demon, a demon that told her tp run through a plate glass window and over a fence, and subsequently to the ER. 

And all of a sudden, the clock and date that she had ignored all those years became the one thing she held onto. So she waited. She waited through 6 reconstructive surgeries, months of rehab, and dozens of NA meetings. She got a cute new wardrobe and a hairstyle that both showcased her wit and beauty, she got rid of her braces and acne, and replaced her glasses with contacts. She was ready to go off to Yale where she was sure her dream man awaited, until one day Yale rescinded their scholarship due to her past narcotics problems. And once again she was dejected and sour, so she enrolled at the one place that fed on people feeling dejected and sour; Greendale Community College. 

Lo and behold, Troy Barnes was there as well, in front of her in Spanish. But that dreaded clock kept ticking, and after their class ended at noon, there was only 4 hours until that clock that had been ticking all her life was to expire. So when she happened to be walking behind Troy after class, and she HAPPENED to overhear some Middle Eastern kid mention to Troy that a Spanish study group was meeting in the Library at 4:45, she had to follow. Maybe Troy was the person all this time. So she waited outside the library study room for a few minutes after Troy entered before following him in, it seemed like she had found the place by coincidence. She recognized several faces from class. The blonde explained that the board-certified tutor had to step out for a second, and that he’d be back momentarily. So she sat, hoping that when the clock hit zero at 5 o’clock that Troy would look up and suddenly recognize her and see her in a light that he had never seen her before. 

Five minutes.

He just sat there texting, as the group weathered the uncomfortable silence. 

One minute.

The only time her looked up was to make small talk to the older man next to him, about childish things like how funny the word “cockpit” sounded. 

Thirty seconds. 

She could literally feel her heart breaking as Troy showed no signs of even knowing who she was, even asking her for a pen while making eye contact but not for a second seeming   
like he recognized her. 

Fifteen seconds. 

Footsteps were heard in the distance as she mentally prepared herself to excuse herself from the table and go cry in a bathroom stall instead. 

Ten seconds.

The footsteps quickly got closer and louder, and it sounded almost like someone with very long strides running towards the room.

Five seconds. 

She reached down to grab her backpack and make an ungraceful exit when a man burst into the room, back turned to the group as he locked the study room door, peering out the blinds as if to make sure he wasn’t followed before shutting them. He was tall with hair that looked like he’d spent all day making it perfectly messed up, and was sporting a blazer and track pants as if to say “I care but I don’t care”. 

Three, two, one…

He turned around, his previously closed eyes opening and landing directly on her, as he stood there speechless. She didn’t know what expression her face was making, but she had a pretty strong guess that it was an exact replica of the face he was giving her. 

She had to make a conscious effort to keep from letting out a gleeful yelp as she and Prince Charming got lost in each other's eyes.

Zero.


End file.
